Purple Porch Plan - 2011-2012

Mission Statement

2012-01-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

Agreed by the Board of Directors - January 11, 2012

Purple PorchCo-op connects consumers and producers in a just food cooperative.
We value: Locally sourcedfood, Transparency, Sustainability, and Community

Planning

2011-11-14T12:48:00.001-08:00

This is blog in order to share and collaborate in the process of developing a plan for the Purple Porch Co-op. The first stage in this process has been to gather groups of Purple Porch people to brainstorm the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the Co-op. The three groups are the Leadership (Board and Manager), the Producers and the Members. Please find the group you are in a contribute your ideas - particularly if you were not able to attend the meeting.

We are taking the ideas/comments to the South Bend Small Business Development Center and a counselor is helping us craft a 3-5 year plan.

A condensation of the results:

Strengths

Good, local, sustainably produced food
Transparency – one-on-one with producer
Cooperative Structure – and volunteers
Group of Committed Producers
Consistency and Competency of General Manger
On-line ordering – accessibility and “cutting edge”

Weaknesses

Limited accessibility
Low rate of participation in volunteer activities
Lack of Marketing plan
Lack of Fiscal Planning
Constraints of the infrastructure/environment (e.g., lack of refrigeration)
Inconsistent strategic planning and follow-through
Online ordering – consumer frustration

Opportunities

Education and Advocacy of sustainable food system
Membership orientation and retention
Target organizations/institutions with education and marketing
Diversification of products and services (e.g., café, store, selling to restaurants, delivery…)
Marketing
(Debit/Credit cards)

Threats

Competition of other markets
Loss of key people/producers
Government regulations/enforcement
Questionable long-term viability of current location
Questionable strength and adequacy of organizational structure
Inadequate capital
Liability of sickness/accident

Board SWOT

2011-11-14T12:42:00.003-08:00

These are the results of the SWOT analysis for Leadership. If you are a Board Member that did not participate in the meeting, please review this and add your thoughts/ideas. Just type in the box provided at the bottom and submit. You can identify yourself as Anonymous (that way you don't need to log in). You will be asked to type in a verification so that we know you're not a robot. As we get these comments, we can add them to the body.

Strengths

Purpose: have organic food and local food available
Face to face between producers and members
Unique
Filled a need: market space previsouly unserved
Growing producer interest
Low overhead start-up on all sides
Fair value to the producers
Strong core volunteer base
Good food
Creative input from different sources
Flexibility in decision making
Positive expereince: feels like PPC is making a difference
Building community, friends
Exciting and new
Transparency (re: growing methods)
On-line ordering
Market manager
Cooperative structure: participatory & horizontal structure
Caring
Community awareness growing

Weaknesses

Not enough allies
Consumer expectations (instant and regular food available) don’t mesh with service model
Lack of understanding of co-op model/operations (by public)
Transparency is questionable (lack of verification)
New software not intuitive enough
Lack of access/ability to online ordering
Limited selection
Not enough volunteer support/productivity beyond Wednesday
Limited open hours
Lack of follow-thru/ball dropped
Overreliance on few core volunteers
Drop off in variety in winter
Limited community awareness
Lack of systematic marketing plan
Location is onconvenient, out of the way
Minimal fiscal planning
¼ staff time position
Lack of access to all demographics
Good suggestions without enough ‘skin in the game’

Opportunities

Products diversitfication: food and non-food (non-local?)
More formal structure (policies)
Training farmers and expanding sustainable agriculture
Learning farm
Multiple locations/times
Connect local farmers to food security issues
Serve low income via SNAP
Sell to school cafeterias
Develop/take leadership in growing a community network/food hub/”brand
Scale up model
Educational outreach
Increase collaborations with local colleges
Outreach to retirement communities
Advocacy & education on food justice issues

Threats

Fad-ism
Declining sense of commnity/community development
Viability of landlord
Losing key producers
Cheap industrial-ag food
Lingering informality: strength and adequacy of organizational structure
Health dept./USDA
Large cahings moving into market space
Losing key people
Conflicting visions and values
Not enough risk takers
Inadequate capital flow
Not sull enough understanding of consumer co-op model by members/public

Values

Organic
Local
Sense of justice
Community
Integrity
Quality
Care for the environment
Imagination
Transparency
Healthy
Cooperation
Hopeful
Jolly
Joy
Passion
sustainability

Members SWOT

2011-11-14T12:42:00.001-08:00

These are the results of the SWOT analysis for Member. If you are a MEMBER that did not participate in the meeting, please review this and add your thoughts/ideas. Just type in the box provided at the bottom and submit. You can identify yourself as Anonymous (that way you don't need to log in). You will be asked to type in a verification so that we know you're not a robot. As we get these comments, we can add them to the body.

Strengths

Community Relationships;Network – connected to people; Personal connection
Trust between members and producers; Know Source of Food/Food Security; Knowledgeable and Helpful Producers (can talk with them); Transparency; Relationships between member and producers
Local Good Food Seasonal produce
Organic Supports sustainable lifestyle
Has good reputation in community; Connecting with other community organizations
Modern food sharing space
Educational
Online ordering and info
“Organically” organized
Feel like part of something special; Fun; Elitist; Can try new Things

Weaknesses

Online – vague size of product v. price
Web layout: Not user friendly, not clear re: Process; Too many clicks to shop; No search function; Inability to keep filling online cart; Order system does not allow for comparison; Limited description for products; Lack of product images
Location
Lack of interaction with neighborhood
Lack of co-op spirit (Participation)
Limited hours
Lack of receipt/ bill of sale
Extras run out too fast
Low yield between awareness and membership
Perception of high price Higher price
Ingrained shopping habits
Online Volunteer calendar out of date.

Opportunities

Increase visibility; Ads on Benches; Signage – especially near location
More community outreach (i.e., ArtBeat); Better Connection with local community agencies
Outreach to health and wellness fitness facilities
Education in Schools
Flyers at Universities; University/Grad student market
Integration into immediate neighborhood
Coordination with LangLab for events
Festivals, movies
Debit/Credit cards
Monthly account/Budget plan (“PPC CSA”)
Expand Products, services
Transparency of budget

Threats

Decline in National Economy
Member Drop-off
Dependence on small number of people to run co-op
Increase Competition/Farmers Market and Major Retailers
Government Regulation and Food Policy
Illness/Death Liability
Quality Control
Growing too fast
Low Participation by members; Recruiting too many members who won’t participate in CO-op
Big dip in driveway
Large effort to shop, pick up
Inadequate parking capacity
Not ADA friendly
Losing key producers
Inconsistent availability of products

Producers SWOT

2011-11-14T12:19:00.001-08:00

These are the results of the SWOT analysis for Producers. If you are a producer that did not participate in the meeting, please review this and add your thoughts/ideas. Just type in the box provided at the bottom and submit. You can identify yourself as Anonymous (that way you don't need to log in). You will be asked to type in a verification so that we know you're not a robot. As we get these comments, we can add them to the body.

Strengths

Local
Variety of things
Face to face producer-consumer interaction
On line preorder (reduces waste)
Educates members about good production process and variety available (sometiems new)
Introduce memers to new products/varieties
At cutting edge of food movement
Sjared sense of community and support among growers
Organizers easy to work with – everyone friendly
Opportunity incubator
Evening market (unique for area)
Making local/sustainable/organic more available

Weaknesses

Not enough members
Not enough marketing
No frozen/refrigerated display unit/facilities/equipment
Members’ difficulty collecting orders (some kind of basket?)
Availability of non-online (extra) prodcuts contributes to membes not using system
Sometiems orders not worth the trip
Producers don’t promote/inform special adequately
Producers could use more mareting skills!
Need better awareness for producers of services available through co-op
Targets organic to extent that unintentionally narrows member appeal (creates small funnel)
Prices?
Location
Limited hours
Members retention

Opportunities

Leverage the internet more v
More advertising
Connect with surrounding community
Delivery
Better retention
Take advantage of seasonal themes, holidays, other events to bring in customers (during hours)
Offer workshops (behind the scenes, educational, cooking, site tours…)
Commnity give-back (food banks, etc.)
Meals ready to go
Recipe inredients ready-to-go
Capture more restaurant business
Café
Store

Threats

Lack of growth in membership
Government regulation
Regular grocery stores moving into market space
Weather (bad) threatens sales; threatens production and crops
Difficulty of members negotiationg the system/process (order to pick up)
Small scale of operations/in relation to operating costs
Not as energy efficient as we might be/logistics
New competition (other evening markets)
Internal market saturation (too many producers growing same things)